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[video] Quick Take: Battle Brewing Between eBay and Carl Icahn

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of eBay (EBAY) are higher on Thursday but off the highs from Wednesday's after-hours trading session when the company initially reported fourth-quarter earnings.

TheStreet's Ruben Ramirez said eBay disclosed that hedge fund manager Carl Icahn had acquired a 0.82% stake in the company and will nominate two people to the company's board.

The situation isn't all roses, however. Icahn wants eBay to spin off off its PayPal business in order to unlock shareholder value. In the conference call, it appeared as though eBay's management was not willing to do so.

Jim Cramer, the co-manager for the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio weighed in: "PayPal standalone is worth a lot. The problem is, there's no way [CEO John Donahoe] is going to go for this."

He added that shares of eBay will likely rally if Icahn wins this battle but could decline if he fails to convince the company it is a good move.

Shares have been trapped between $48 and $58, Ramirez said, with its 52-week high coming from last March. Shares have largely lagged the broader market, as well as its peers.

Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, downgraded the stock. He has a $62 price target based on a "sum of the parts" thesis, but saw a less favorable risk-to-reward scenario after shares rallied into the earnings report, and moved higher follow its release.

Bret Kenwell currently writes, blogs and also contributes to Robert Weinstein's Weekly Options Newsletter. Focuses on short-to-intermediate-term trading opportunities that can be exposed via options. He prefers to use debit trades on momentum setups and credit trades on support/resistance setups. He also focuses on building long-term wealth by searching for consistent, quality dividend paying companies and long-term growth companies. He considers himself the surfer, not the wave, in relation to the market and himself. He has no allegiance to either the bull side or the bear side.